Songs the radio butchers
For no particular reason (other than that Aaron and I were venting about it this evening) I feel like writing a random rant about how the radio makes some odd choices on editing certain popular songs. I'm not just referring to the obvious "fucks" and "shits" that the FCC bans; there are other less necessary modifications made to many songs that more or less destroys them.
I guess what I'm saying is, to all you radio gods: play a song as it was meant to be played, or just don't play it.
On a totally unrelated note, I saw a huge fire in a building off I-45 on the way home tonight. I had never seen a building ablaze before; it was oddly beautiful in that way that nature has of making destruction look vibrant. I wonder if there will be any further information in tomorrows Chronicle.
Update: Jeff reminded me of some other songs also inexplicably altered by the radio, most notably the Wallflowers' Sixth Avenue Heartache, where they remove the second verse, thus rendering the fourth completely nonsensical. More minor offenses include Barenaked Ladies' Pinch Me*, which is usually missing its kickass outro solo, and Collective Soul's The World I Know, which thankfully is merely restructure but for the most part retains its awesomeness. To these three excellent songs I must add an extremely poor one, made even poorer by the removal of its one remotely clever line: when radio stations play Cowboy by Kid Rock, they edit the lyric "I'm gonna paint the town red, and paint his wife white" by removing "white" (perhaps the only time in broadcast history that word has needed editing). A really bad song made even worse by unneeded editing.
* The lyrics provided include tongue-in-cheek promo material spliced into the song by Steven Page and Tyler Stewart. It's pretty amusing.
Song lyric of the day:
"We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we're trying to fight it"
- Billy Joel
- Third Eye Blind, Semi-Charmed Life - the best part of this song, the bridge that begins "And when the plane came in, she said she was crashing", is consistently removed when this song is played on the radio. Personally, I don't get it. The song is only 3 and a half minutes long anyway. Why deprive listeners of the crux of the ditty?
- Everlast, What It's Like - okay, I think we all know this song becomes Swiss cheese when it hits airwaves. Horrible words such as "whore" and "chrome .45" are removed, and along with them goes any hint of the song's message.
- Green Day, American Idiot - it's only one word, but the lyric "maybe I'm the faggot America" is the most powerful of the song, defiantly shouting against the "redneck agenda" that seeks to classify part of the country as second-class citizens.
- Snow Patrol, Run - again, small beef, but the "slower, slower" verse is the best in the song in my opinion and for some reason they always skip straight to the "have heart my dear" verse. Can we not spare 20 extra seconds of air time?
- and as for NIN's Closer, Disturbed's Liberate, and Rage's Killing in the Name, why even bother?
I guess what I'm saying is, to all you radio gods: play a song as it was meant to be played, or just don't play it.
On a totally unrelated note, I saw a huge fire in a building off I-45 on the way home tonight. I had never seen a building ablaze before; it was oddly beautiful in that way that nature has of making destruction look vibrant. I wonder if there will be any further information in tomorrows Chronicle.
Update: Jeff reminded me of some other songs also inexplicably altered by the radio, most notably the Wallflowers' Sixth Avenue Heartache, where they remove the second verse, thus rendering the fourth completely nonsensical. More minor offenses include Barenaked Ladies' Pinch Me*, which is usually missing its kickass outro solo, and Collective Soul's The World I Know, which thankfully is merely restructure but for the most part retains its awesomeness. To these three excellent songs I must add an extremely poor one, made even poorer by the removal of its one remotely clever line: when radio stations play Cowboy by Kid Rock, they edit the lyric "I'm gonna paint the town red, and paint his wife white" by removing "white" (perhaps the only time in broadcast history that word has needed editing). A really bad song made even worse by unneeded editing.
* The lyrics provided include tongue-in-cheek promo material spliced into the song by Steven Page and Tyler Stewart. It's pretty amusing.
Song lyric of the day:
"We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we're trying to fight it"
- Billy Joel
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